Canadian Paddle Tournament Season Ends on Emotional High with Paul and Mike Stulac Winning 2012 Open

Suzanne Lanthier
April 28, 2011
Toronto, Canada

With sincere gratitude to sponsors Paddleplayer.com and McAuslan Breweries (www.mcauslan.com) not to mention the generosity of paddlers from Canada and the US, $1500 was raised at the 2012 Canadian Open to support Wellspring – a network of cancer support centres across Canada.

A small but mighty crew of 9 women’s teams competed for the 2012 Open Title with top honours going to the Cincy-Pitt dymanic duo of Ann Turner and Lynn Thompson who, until their final, did not drop 1 game! Ann and Lynn prevailed over Steph Russell and Suzanne Lanthier in 3-set final. (pictured at right: Russell, Lanthier, Turner, Thompson) Third place honours went to Sandra Odenbach and Dionne Bothner who overcame tough competition from Sara Lanthier and Rita Kladstrup.  Rumour had it that a pre-match bet of losers serving winners wedges for the duration of the men’s final match were on the line. Anna Lis and Janelle Giehl took Consolation draw honours and Jane Watson/Joan Stulac now own the Last Chance Title.  Women's Draw 

On the Men’s side, emotional favourites Mike and Paul Stulac did not disappoint as they made it through a challenging Y-chromosome draw not dropping a set. Odenbach/Pike fought back from 5-2 deficit in second set of the final to eventually lose 7-5 to the Stulac brothers. Mom, Joan presented her boys with the Joe Stulac Memorial Trophy with son #3 – Dan – looking on (pictured at left).

The semifinalists also deserve some shout-outs too as they gave the crowd some incredible head-scratching “how did they do that?” paddle points – our thanks to Reid Smith and Laramie Gavin from Rochester who faced the Stulacs in their semi and to Dan Hersh and Tyler Noland from Pittsburgh who had the pleasure facing Hall-of-Famer Fritz Odenbach and Steve “steve pike” Pike. (pictured below: Stulac, Stulac, Pike, Odenbach)

Congratulations to ¼ Reprieve Winners: Mark Semler and Jeff Kotalik;  Consolation Winners: Andy Thompson and Joe Ryan and Last Chance Champs: Paul Herlan and Chris Ross – who were out so long on the court, that we turned the lights out on them (sorry guys – but enough was enough .. we had to get to the bar!!) Men's Draw 

The success of this tournament was due to an incredible handful of members and supporters who all pitched in to save costs, time and the overall sanity of the tournament director – thanks to Paul Stulac, Maurice Sanchez, Mike Stulac, Fritz Odenbach, Barry Pletch, Brad McIlroy, Sonja Erskine, Mike Page, Mike Boire, Greg Hughes, John Lanthier – and the best clean-up crew around: Jane & Ian Watson, Deb & Mike Gallagher, Ted & Anna Lis, Ted & Janis Stitski – YOU ROCK!!! If I missed anyone..  I do apologize.

Special thanks to our out of town teams who made the trek to the North to participate. We loved hosting all of our friends from Rochester, Pitt, Cincy, Buffalo and of course, Mike and KD from NYC!!

And again to our sponsors – Paddleplayer.com and McAuslan .. merci beaucoup! More photos on our Facebook site http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kingsway-Platform-Tennis-Club/261531507213459

See you next season!